GW2: The City in the Sea – Verse 2

No rays from the holy heaven come down

On the long night-time of that town;

But light from out the lurid sea

Streams up the turrets silently —

Gleams up the pinnacles far and free —

Up domes —

up spires —

up kingly halls —

Up fanes —

up Babylon-like walls —

Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers

Of sculptured ivy

and stone flowers —

Up many and many a marvelous shrine

Whose wreathéd friezes intertwine

The viol, the violet, and the vine.

So blend the turrets and shadows there

That all seem pendulous in the air,

While from a proud tower in the town

Death looks gigantically down.

— The City in the Sea, Second Stanza

Edgar Allan Poe

—

This one’s for Syl, cos she loves this stuff. Sorry it took this long to do another.

I was waiting to make sure I didn’t spoil Orr for slower levelers. Really! Honest!

*hem*

Verse 3 and 4 tomorrow. Y’all must be pictured out by now.

GW2: The City in the Sea – Verse 1

Lo! Death has reared himself a throne

In a strange city lying alone

Far down within the dim West,

Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best

Have gone to their eternal rest.

There shrines and palaces and towers

(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)

Resemble nothing that is ours.

Around, by lifting winds forgot,

Resignedly beneath the sky

The melancholy waters lie.

— The City in the Sea, First Stanza

Edgar Allan Poe

—

I am liking the laurels and the new varied dailies. It has given me a reason to log in every day, and also guilt-free logging off after an hour or two once the daily is done.

I am liking the Living Story (so far). It gives me a reason to go back to my race hometown to check in with the herald and makes things more immersive thereby. (I know Lion’s Arch has ’em too, but nah…) It moves at a less hectic pace than one day events, so I don’t feel like I’m going to miss anything if I forget to log in for a day or two.

I am liking the changes to Orr. The Risen look nicer now that they’re bigger. It’s way easier to take screenshots when you’re not fighting off a zombie every step or two.

I am liking the current server I hopped to (Tarnished Coast.) 75-80% of the names I see around me are lore-appropriate, which really makes things more immersive, though I haven’t tried RPing yet. (With the amount of screenshots I take, I can only be a narcoleptic Charr, collapsing in sleep every five seconds or so… so better I don’t RP just yet.)

I see a lot more people around, which suggests it’s both a crowded server and zone funneling is working (I’ve only been in Wayfarer Foothills, Diessa Plateau and Orr so far.) The Temples are uncontested most of the time, which means people are doing the events, and suggests the difficulty tweaks have worked.

All the above got me refreshed and I’ve spent the last couple days on a very casual an hour or two a day Grand Project to screenshot Orr like you’ve never seen it before.

I’m out to prove that Orr is NOT FUGLY. Not one bit.

I took 980 screenshots, out of which I whittled down to 231 nice contenders, then skimmed the cream of the crop to sorta kinda fit the poem. Very sorta kinda.

I have to say, I feel like I’ve barely covered Orr’s land area and still have SO MUCH good looking stuff. I can’t imagine how many screens I’d have if I went around more places. ArenaNet is crazy good at what they do.

Enjoy.